Entertainment

1. Mesopotamia very little entertainment harsh life religious festivals taverns/drinking Egypt sports, fishing, boating, rich hunt for sport plays & poems lots of toys & games Entertainment

2. Mesopotamia cuneiform scribes only a few upper class educated to keep track of trade, etc. Egypt scribes & upper class educated to better yourself Education

3. Mesopotamia related to religion/priests herbal remedies magic for prophesy prophets as advisors angry gods, so use magic to soothe Egypt related to religion/priests herbal remedies & aroma therapy dentistry magic for prophesy nice gods, so give magic as a gift to them Magic/Medicine

4. Mesopotamia cuneiform, umbrella, wagon, wheel, arches, metal working irrigation systems walls around cities ziggurats Egypt few innovations heiroglyphics papyrus pyramids Technology

5. Mesopotamia woolen skirts breast plates jewelry for upper class utilitarian clothes Egypt linen tunics: simple for poor, good weave & dyed for wealthy upper class: cosmetics, wigs, gold jewelry priests & pharoahs: animal skins beards symbolize royal power (others shaved daily) Fashion

6. Mesopotamia Anu, Ishtar, Marduk harsh, jealous gods center of life god king as high priest sisters of god & fertility Egypt animal-headed gods generally kind & fair gods important, but not center of life pharaoh is god mummies reflect belief in a good afterlife Religion

7. Mesopotamia constant changes due to invasion see notes: Gilgamesh, Sargon, Nebuchadnezzar, etc. Egypt easy lifestyle = little change in ruling Narmer united upper & lower Egypt Warrior kings (ex. Ramses) Ruling Style

8. Mesopotamia women with traditional roles women & children sold for debt harsh life = less family bonding whole family works divorce allowed Egypt women in traditional roles children = blessing children don’t work young marry young; polygamy allowed divorce allowed Family

9. Mesopotamia constant warfare between city-states need innovations: chariot, wagon wheel, metal working all of history = military conquest Egypt little warfare = small army, little innovation not until after Hyksos invasion does Egypt build up army (Ramses) Military

10. Mesopotamia very limited (harsh lifestyle) Poems of Enheduannha Gilgamesh = first epic story only religious art & architecture Egypt lots of lit, poetry, stories, mythology writing on everything sculptures (in & out of religious context) Rosetta stone Literature & Art

11. Mesopotamia crossroads of East & West land route traded metal, innovations, crops Egypt within Nile delta traded b/n Nubia, Ethiopia, & Egypt boundaries make trade difficult traded tools, animal skins, linen, gold Trade

12. Mesopotamia King as head priest priestly class scribes free men (farmers, etc.) slaves Egypt Pharaoh as god viviers = nobles/priests Scribes ArtisanmMerchant class Farmers Slaves & foreigners Social Classes

13. Mesopotamia burials with objects of wealth no great monuments afterlife is dreary & sad Egypt extensive burials with food, furniture, pets decoration & preservation of body nice afterlife with everything you bury Death & Afterlife

14. Mesopotamia Persians allowed local officials to stay in power used neighboring tribes as slaves cooperated to have consistent weights & measures Egypt Early: contact only within Egypt Later: Ramses negotiated with Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, etc. too far away from others intermarriage with Hittites Diplomacy

15. Mesopotamia city walls Sargon’s great city ziggurats (religious uses: education, prophesy center, connects to palace) Egypt Old Kingdom: great monuments (sphinx, pyramids) New Kingdom: grand obelisk, great cities, Ramses = greatest monument builder) Architecture